


A Haunting in Hongdo

by The_Consulting_Werewolf



Series: the Fic Fest fics [6]
Category: EXO (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Haunting, Kid!Jungwoo, Light Suspense, M/M, krisho have painful crushes on each other, most of EXO are ghosts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-07 22:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18882193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Consulting_Werewolf/pseuds/The_Consulting_Werewolf
Summary: Hongdo has gorgeous views, a gorgeous hotel and an even more gorgeous manager. Except, that hotel might be haunted and Yifan is here to investigate that hotel, not crush after the manager/owner Kim Junmyeon.





	A Haunting in Hongdo

**Author's Note:**

> I finally finished it phew.
> 
> Thank you for the mods for being so nice and oblige my late extension request! And to whoever left the prompt, if you wanted AHS-ish stuff, I am so sorry this turned out to be more Casper the Friendly Ghost ><
> 
> (Prompt #58)

_“Honey,” a woman whispers in the dead of the night. She touches her husband’s back and tries to rouse him from his deep sleep but to no avail. The room is quiet, too quiet. She can hear the crickets chirping in the gardens outside and even hear the gentle crash of the waves of the sea below the cliff this hotel is built on. Her husband brought her here for a weekend getaway, two nights away from Naju and their two daughters (she loves her children, but sometimes, she needs a break from them too); the hotel looked great online and she was excited. But now, their first night here, she is suddenly woken up by a strange noise._

_She tries again, “Honey, please, wake up.” She even shakes him slightly but again, he is immovable. She huffs and gets down from the bed herself. Her husband had booked them a suite. The room they are in is splendid. The polished wooden floors and dark, almost charcoal, grey walls pair amazingly with the wrought iron bed and grey and white upholstery. She glances at the window, which is closed and covered by the light cotton curtain. There are house plants strewn all over and the one against the window has tiny fairy lights woven through it, which looks magical and it is the only source of light in the room. She licks her lips, wondering if the noise she heard perhaps came from outside. But then she shakes her head—no, it sounded hollow, like walls surrounded the soft plop of something falling on a rug._

_She walks into the living room, which is a complete contrast to the bedroom. It is bright, cheerful with yellow chairs, a magenta rug under the coffee table and light purple curtains by the window that looks over the cliff. The wall here is dark teal, so when she turns the lights on, the darkness doesn't seem to go away completely. She thinks this room looks much better in the day._

_She walks towards the steel grey sofas and looks around the space. She frowns when she finds a brass candle holder lying on its side on the magenta rug. She picks it up and frowns; they didn’t use these tonight, the handsome owner provided them with another set of candleholders with their dinner on the balcony. She picks it up and places it on the glass top of the coffee table._

_The loud sound of something falling attracts her attention and she whips her head around to see another candle holder lying by the fireplace. She swallows as the fear slowly simmers in her gut. She walks over to the fireplace and picks it up._

_Above the fireplace, there is a large gilded mirror and as she looks at the mantelpiece, she realises the holders were here when she first saw the room hours ago. Suddenly, all the hair on her neck rise and a shiver pass through her spine. Something tells her there is somebody else in the room. She hasn't looked in the mirror yet, so when she raises her head and looks at her reflection, she cries._

_Behind her, a young man with sharp features, dressed in a white muscle tee is smirking right back at her in the reflection. She faints._

 

“And then she said she fainted,” Jongdae says, pushing his glasses that were sliding off his nose again.

“Did they check out?” Yifan asks, leaning against the desk.

“Nope,” Jongdae shakes his head. “Apparently, her husband convinced her she was just dreaming and when she complained to the owner, he felt terrible for her agitated state and gave them a free lunch.”

“A free lunch? That’s it?” Yifan asks, incredulous as he slides off his desk, and walks around Jongdae’s desk to peer at the post he was reading. He quickly reads through the post and then asks, “So, this would be the tenth one in this thread, right?”

Jongdae nods, “The tenth here, but overall, this would be like the twenty-fifth story since I came on this forum.”

“So, the Kim Seaview Hotel has a lot of stories to tell, eh?”

Jongdae grins when he sees his boss’s eyes gleaming behind his thin, round-frame spectacles. “So, we are going to Hongdo?”

“Yep, pack your sunscreen and get our usual team ready. I will contact the owner soon.”

Wu Yifan, the man in the spectacles and the long black hair tied in a ponytail is Asia’s most famous (infamous in other circles) paranormal investigator. He has written various books, runs a YouTube channel with over ten million subscribers and has appeared in television shows in almost every Asian country. He is famous for all the debunking he does and for his objectivity when he visits any new place. He is based in Seoul for now but has another base in Hong Kong as well. Kim Jongdae has been his assistant for the last six years and he loves his job. He is not the biggest believer himself, so he actually enjoys going to the creepiest places possible. Thus, this hotel in Hongdo sounds perfect to him.

Yifan returns to his desk and tries to find information on the hotel owners while Jongdae looks at pictures of Hongdo. He smiles again; if this place is a total failure, at least he can get a vacation out of it.

 

Junmyeon groans as he slowly wakes up. The urge to stay in bed is strong but he has a hotel to run and son to send to school, so he pushes himself up. The sunlight pours through the curtains and lights the whole room up, which is so much simpler than all the rooms in the hotel. He doesn't even have a proper bed, just something his employee made from scrap wood. Even the shelves, dresser, and the footstool were made by fixing broken down furniture. Surely the hotel can't have furniture that looks bad so most of the time Junmyeon or the employees fix them as best as they can and use it. 

He walks into the kitchen and pulls out the food items for breakfast. His son, Jungwoo, is in his third year of kindergarten and he is still excited to go to school and learn something new every day. They live on the hotel grounds in a repurposed chapel. His grandfather built it but soon people stopped coming to pray or use it, so his mother turned it into a loft apartment. She knocked one wall down and replaced it with glass. The place is divided into two levels and only has two rooms. Behind the glass wall is the kitchen and above it is the living room, accessed by a flight of stairs. Junmyeon smiles as he looks at the sea and the tall cliffs on the side. His mom had vision; it takes his breath away every time.

He moves next to wake Jungwoo up. His room is on the second level and much more colourful than Junmyeon’s room. On Jungwoo’s insistence, they coloured one of the walls yellow and chose all green upholstery. Right now, Jungwoo curled under the light blanket, his mouth open. Junmyeon feels the usual wave of affection in his chest when he looks at his son. He is only six years old but terribly smart and quick. Sometimes, Junmyeon wishes Kyungsoo could see him too.

At the thought of his husband, he gets a bit sad but then he shakes his shoulders and walks into the room. He sits down on the bed and pats Jungwoo’s head, who wakes up scrunching his whole face.  There is a small pout as he thrusts his hands up, silently asking to be held. Junmyeon chuckles and picks Jungwoo up, tucking him under his chin and humming, “Good morning baby, time to wake up.”

“Morning papa,” Jungwoo mumbles and yawns.

Junmyeon nuzzles into Jungwoo’s hair and takes a deep whiff of the baby shampoo he still uses. He cards his fingers through the hair and says, “I got the mango-flavoured cereal you like yesterday.”

“Mango?” Jungwoo perks up and smiles up at his father. When Junmyeon nods, Jungwoo claps his hands. “Yes!”

Getting Jungwoo ready for the day is relatively easy then. The promise of mango-flavoured cereal is too irresistible for Jungwoo and soon, he joins his father in the kitchen. Junmyeon packs his lunch and makes himself some toast. Jungwoo is finishing his cereal when a notification on the computer takes Junmyeon away from the kitchen to the small work station he set up in his house by the kitchen. His buttered toast hangs from his mouth as he checks the mail he received on his laptop. He reads through it and frowns. Jungwoo looks at his father’s vexed expression and says, “Papa? You okay?”

Junmyeon nods; he looks at his son and says, “Papa just got a very strange mail.”

Jungwoo tilts his head to the side as Junmyeon shrugs in response.

 

_Dear Mr. Wu,_

_I received your email this morning, sorry for the late reply, but I am aware of who you are and what you do. I do know people say a lot of things about my hotel but I have never seen or experienced anything. However, you are welcome to come and see for yourself. I would only need a word in advance and information on how many people would be in your party. As we are in the peak summer season, we are sort of full, so please do let me know, I will try my best to accommodate you._

_Warmest regards,_

_Kim Junmyeon_

_Manager, Kim Seaview Hotel_

“So, there’s that,” Jongdae says as he finishes reading the email. “He seems so polite.”

Yifan chuckles over the phone, “We can’t be sure, but it is strange how he is the first person to say there are no ghosts.”

“I know right? Most of the times, it is the hotel manager who is the first to blab about hauntings!” Jongdae says.

“Maybe, he is playing hard to get,” Yifan huffs. “Anyway, get Yuta for now. We will go down and do some recce before bringing the camera crew down, say, within a week or so, okay?”

“Okay,” Jongdae scribbles down the reminder on his notebook. “Anything else, boss?”

“Tell him we will be down there on the thirteenth of May through the nineteenth.”

“Okay.”

Jongdae disconnects the call and Yifan leans back in the chair. He received the email from Kim Junmyeon, the manager and owner of the hotel, late in the evening. Jongdae and Yifan share the office email account, but Jongdae was the first to get the notification and Yifan was surprised by how quick that reply was (he had expected at least a week for the response to come through). He reads the name and decides to go do a quick Google search.

To more of his surprise, Yifan immediately gets an Instagram account and through that, Yifan learns one, the man has a son and two, he is very handsome. Yifan rubs his chin as he finds this one image where Junmyeon is kneeling among shrubs and looking up at the person taking the image. The sunshine drapes over him, and it highlights the peach tone in his cheeks and the toothy smile is adorable, making Yifan wonder how old the manager truly is. Yifan shakes his head and exits the website, thinking how absurd it is to stalk people online at his age.

He is excited though; from what he has seen of the hotel, it looks like it is built on a cliff overlooking the sea and surrounded by greenery. Even if nothing comes out of it, maybe Yifan can make this into a small getaway for his team, who work so hard for him. He knows Jongdae would love it, so would Yuta, his other assistant.

Therefore, feeling better about himself, he shuts his laptop and decides to start packing for the week-long recce.

 

The seventh of May starts with a guest calling Junmyeon at the front desk, crying, “There’s someone in my room!”

Junmyeon sighs; he has a fair idea who it might be. He takes the lift to the third floor and walks towards room number 304. He stands in front of the door to the room and whispers, “Jongin, I know you can hear me. Come out right now or I swear I am not burning any more plushies for you.”

Even though Junmyeon spoke quietly and under his breath, he knows the one he spoke to heard him loud and clear. As soon as he is finished, a man in his early twenties appears out of thin air beside him. He has floppy, dark hair and he is dressed like he is from the 1950s. He would be very handsome if it wasn’t for the permanent ashen, bloodless complexion. Junmyeon knows Jongin’s story—how the young man killed himself in room 304 because the woman he wanted to marry jilted him. Jongin was only 23 when he died, and he remained youthful in death but he is one of the more morose ghosts haunting this place. However, that doesn’t mean he refrains from getting into mischief every now and then.

Jongin whines, “Oh come on, she was about to throw one of my little plushies into the dustbin! I had to stop her!”

Junmyeon sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And what did you do?”

Jongin pouts, "Well when she wasn't looking, I took out Nicks from the bin and put her back under the bed."

Junmyeon sighs again, “How many times have I told you to keep your toys out of the view of guests?”

“I know, I know! I am so sorry,” Jongin clasps his hands and rubs them. “And I did put away all my things—it’s just I forgot about Nicks under the bed.”

Junmyeon rubs his face, sighing for the nth time now. “Okay, okay. I think I will use the cat-got-into-your-room excuse then.”

“Thank you Junmyeon!”

Jongin disappears again and Junmyeon finally knocks on the door. The woman on the other side opens it at the second knock and as she explains what happened, Junmyeon tries his best to calm her and feed her the nonsense story about the cat (there are no cats around the hotel, but she doesn’t know that). She seems unconvinced but Junmyeon reassures her, even puts on his best crowd-pleasing smile and promises her complimentary breakfast. _That_ seems to placate her and she turns all sheepish and thanks him. Junmyeon takes his leave and groans when he is outside because leaning against the wall is among the most mischievous out of all the spirits: Baekhyun.

Baekhyun died in the hotel in the 1960s, and he was one of the most controversial deaths, even had his grandparents permanently change things in the hotel. The thing is: Baekhyun died by tripping and then breaking his neck on the stairs. The fault was not Baekhyun’s alone; the stairs had a floorboard loose that was overlooked. Baekhyun’s widow almost sued them, putting all the blame on the hotel and his grandparents.

Baekhyun saunters up to him and grins, “Hmm, maybe I could sneak into her room at midnight, right on the clock and then blow into her ear?”

Junmyeon grimaces, “First of all, that’s gross, and second of all, you will do no such thing or I will call on Minseok again.”

The mention of the oldest ghost in the hotel makes the smile slip right off Baekhyun’s face. Junmyeon grins, feeling victorious. He doesn’t need more Naver posts on how a guest came to his hotel and had air blown into their ears, awakening them up at odd hours in the night. The last post was stressful enough. Baekhyun curses him under his breath as he melts back into the wall and leaves Junmyeon alone in the hallway.

He knows Sehun usually doesn’t pop up in random rooms, but his appearance in that couple suite the other night really cost him. He had to prepare a seafood luncheon and let people eat abalone for free. His very soul wept.

Yet, he knows he can’t do anything about the ghosts in this hotel. Innocent pranks and appearing in front of guests are some of the things they do but they have never bodily harmed anyone. And Junmyeon knows they wouldn’t. And he knows they only actually bother the guests who have done something wrong. Like the couple had shouted at one of the porters for no reason, and this woman littered the garden yesterday. The ghosts never bother the guests who behave. Plus, they all adore Jungwoo very much, though his son is not very sure what or who they are. Junmyeon can work in peace knowing someone is watching over his son.

However, he remembers the email from Mr. Wu and he feels anxious. He paces the corridor and thinks if he needs to call all the ghosts and give them a warning—he probably should. He doesn't want Mr. Wu to find about them. He doesn't want his hotel to turn into some sort of theme park attraction. He still has six days till the man and his assistants arrive.

“Papa!” Junmyeon turns his head to find Jungwoo running up to him, clutching two big apples in his hands. He halts in front of Junmyeon, his hands reaching out, showing off the two red apples, grinning, “Look what aunty Hong gave me!”

Junmyeon takes an apple and Jungwoo slips his hand into Junmyeon’s free one and the younger chatters as they walk down the corridor. Junmyeon smiles; his worries easing as he lets Jungwoo talk about his day.

 

A week later, Yifan, Jongdae and Yuta get down the taxi that brought them to the hotel, and Yuta whistles, “Much bigger in real life, eh? Didn’t look this big on the internet!”

Yifan has to agree; the place didn’t look this expansive on the images he found on the internet. The Seaview Hotel comprises of four levels, designed mimicking European architecture. Yifan spots adjacent building dotted throughout the grounds. Yifan is staring at a chapel-like building nestled downhill when he hears someone call, “Mister Wu?”

Yifan turns around to find a short, bespectacled man with an apron around his waist waving at them from the front step of the hotel. He walks down the gravel towards the car and zeroes in on Yifan as he bows, “I am Kim Junmyeon, manager and owner of Kim Seaview.”

Yifan is the tiniest bit gobsmacked; the photos on Instagram did no justice to the fact that Kim Junmyeon in real life is _stunning_. He has smooth, flawless skin, round, sweet, almond-shaped eyes and a small, rosebud mouth, lips now stretched into a toothy grin. He has dark brown hair and it kisses his eyebrows—eyebrows that are now slightly scrunched because Yifan is still staring.

Junmyeon, perhaps, is a bit flustered since his cheeks suddenly get tinted the lightest pink. Yuta and Jongdae share a glance, both grinning like the Cheshire cat. They can see the crush Yifan has on Junmyeon already. It is Jongdae, however, who speaks back to Junmyeon. He pushes Yifan aside and extends his hand with a smile, “I am Kim Jongdae, senior assistant, and this is Nakamoto Yuta, the junior assistant.” Yuta waves when Junmyeon smiles at him. Jongdae then throws his arm around Yifan’s shoulders and grins, “And this is the boss, Wu Yifan.”

Junmyeon looks at Yifan again and the latter finally reacts, bowing. Junmyeon mutters, “You are much taller in real life.”

Yifan smiles, the words _You’re even more gorgeous in real life_ are hanging on the tip of his tongue. He is saved from his brain malfunctioning when a boy shows up where they are, shouting, “Papa!”

Junmyeon grins at the boy and picks him up. Yuta coos, “Oh my, who is the handsome little man here?”

Junmyeon laughs, “This is Jungwoo, my son.”

Yifan imagines the sound of glass crashing after those words are said. The Instagram account didn’t show a significant other, so Yifan doesn’t really know. He eyes the surrounding warily, almost expecting someone to pop up as well, introduce themselves as Junmyeon’s husband or wife. Maybe the person is social media-shy, but they should still come to greet them and take Yifan out of his misery.

Yuta and Jongdae coo over Jungwoo, who is a very adorable child, and seems to bask in the attention quite well. Junmyeon turns his attention to Yifan again, “Uh, Mister Wu?”

Yifan finally speaks, “Uh, um, yes?”

“I was asking if it will just be the three of you this week. I may have a room clearing by this Friday,” Junmyeon says, and then he tucks his hair behind his ear, cheeks getting pinker by the second.

Yifan nods, his own face getting hotter as well, “Yeah, yeah. If we find anything of interest, we will bring over our team then.”

Junmyeon smiles, “Alright, Mr Wu, let me take you to all of your rooms now.”

The three men start taking their bags out of the car and Junmyeon helps them. Jungwoo wants to help too, so Yuta lets him carry his small bag of wires. They walk into the hotel and the guests gasp when they see the interiors. The hall is wide and natural light floods the space, the white walls reflecting the sunlight and draping over the various indoor plants around the hall. The furniture is all light wood or metal and Jongdae mutters, “You have a very gorgeous hotel, Mr Kim.”

Junmyeon laughs, “Call me Junmyeon, please, and thank you.”

“Oh, call me Jongdae then!”

“And me Yuta!” the younger says.

Yifan clears his throat and says, “Uh, you may call me Yifan as well.”

Junmyeon bows his head, another soft smile aimed at Yifan, who is screaming internally now. Junmyeon apologises as he unlocks the door to a room on the ground floor, which is at the back of the house, under the sloping roof, “I’m so sorry I can’t give you three rooms, but I put in a mattress here.”

The door unlocks to a moderately wide room with a large window and two mattresses on the floor covered in blue sheets. There are sliding doors on one side that Junmyeon shows lead to a bathroom. The only decor in the room is an antique trunk, a small closet and some indoor plant. All in all, it’s a very soothing room and Yuta and Jongdae agree to take it.

As Yuta and Jongdae rush into the room, fighting over closet space already, Junmyeon and Yifan are left alone. Well, Jungwoo is there but he gets distracted by the fancy equipment Yuta starts unpacking, so Junmyeon and Yifan take the walk upstairs to the latter’s room together.

Yifan’s room is pretty amazing too. Like the other room, it has white walls. The sheer curtains block the sunlight yet suffuse the room in a soft glow. He finds a work desk pushed against a window and small coffee station by it with a little chalkboard above it that has ‘Help yourself!’ scrawled on it. The bed looks comfy too and there is even a small seating space with a couch and a coffee table sectioned by a divider. Yifan smiles; this has to be the best hotel he would ever stay in. It is so hard to imagine this place is haunted.

Junmyeon puts the key to the room on the work desk and waves his hand at the coffee station, “If you want to make your own coffee, just let me know, I will send up some ground coffee. And if you don’t want to, we have a small cafe in the back.”

“Thanks,” Yifan says, smiling. “This is a lovely room.”

Junmyeon smile widens, “You’re welcome.” He is about to walk away when he remembers, “Oh! Did you guys have lunch?”

“Oh, right,” Yifan groans. “Lunch.”

Junmyeon chuckles, “I will take that as a no. We serve lunch until three. The lunchroom is on the third floor, I hope you like fish!”

“Yeah, I like fish,” Yifan nods. The man just chuckled, Yifan can’t tell him that he loathes fish.

“Alright, see you then. I will inform your assistants.”

Yifan watches Junmyeon leave and as the door closes, he flops down on his bed and slaps himself. He came here to investigate, not get a crush on the good-looking manager! But he can’t help it; every time the man smiled at him, his heart skipped beats like was in some damn manga. The way his eyes crinkled, the way his cheeks lifted—Yifan is not to blame here, okay?

 

Junmyeon cups his face as he goes downstairs to check on the lunch prep. His face is burning. He knew the paranormal investigator was handsome but pictures do him no justice. He is terribly good-looking and Junmyeon hasn’t had been so affected by anyone in a long time.

“Oho, someone has a crush, eh?” a deep voice chuckles.

Junmyeon turns around to find Chanyeol, one of the ghosts here, grinning at him. Junmyeon frowns, his lips in a pout, “No, no I don’t.”

“You’re definitely lying,” Chanyeol laughs.

Junmyeon isn’t lying, not really, right? He is thirty-two years old, he has a child—he is much too old for crushes. But he can’t deny or lie that the tall, Chinese man is not attractive. With his height, his dark hair, full lips and deep, dark eyes, Junmyeon would have to be blind, and stupid, to say he wasn’t handsome. It has been six whole years of not paying any attention to people for Junmyeon, so right now, he is still blushing and his heart is kind of pounding. He almost forgets Yifan’s purpose of coming here till Baekhyun returns, asking Chanyeol if they should spook the newcomers tonight or not. Junmyeon snaps his fingers and says, “Wait, don’t! He’s not an ordinary guest. I need to talk to all of you tonight. Meet me by the pantry later.”

Baekhyun’s glee slips off his face and Chanyeol looks morose on the former’s behalf as well. Junmyeon puts his hands on his hips and glares until both ghosts nod their heads. Satisfied, Junmyeon continues his way to the kitchen. They had a fresh catch of jumbo shrimps today, he knows Jungwoo would love it. He hopes the guests like it too.

Time passes quickly for Junmyeon as he works. He sets the lunchroom up, helping the waiters with putting the food on the buffet spread. There is wild rice, shrimp and pork dumplings, a light potato and fish head stew, salad and for dessert, they put out fresh mangoes and yoghurt. Jungwoo bounds in with Yuta and Jongdae in tow. The adults stare around the room in awe—Junmyeon inwardly gloats. He knows the lunchroom is pretty impressive with its wide, large windows and harlequin seating arrangements.

Jungwoo shows them to a table for four and as Jongdae drags the purple chair out, Jungwoo spots his father and shouts, “Papa!”

Junmyeon waves back; he notices Yifan’s absence, so he asks, “Is Mr Wu not coming?”

Yuta and Jongdae share a grin before the latter answers, “Oh, don’t worry, he will be here soon.”

Junmyeon doesn’t understand why those two look so smug but some minutes later, Yifan does enter the room and Junmyeon gapes. The man was dressed in just a black sweatshirt and track pants, but now he exchanged those with just a white shirt (he has the top few buttons undone) and light blue jeans, and Junmyeon gulps. No, no one should look _that_ good in just a normal shirt and jeans.

Yifan finds Junmyeon staring, so he sends him a wave and a smile. Junmyeon remembers to react, so he too smiles. Jongdae and Yuta get up to get their food and Junmyeon moves on to prepare Jungwoo’s plate. The other hotel guests start entering the room as well and Junmyeon is soon flitting around the place, ensuring everyone is seated and they have food on their tables. Sometimes, he feels eyes on him and when he turns to look at Yifan’s table, he finds the man himself jerking his head away and his ears are all red. Junmyeon finds his own face getting red too—so much so that a guest even ends up asking if he is having a fever.

He has not felt this flustered by a man in a long, long time. Not that any attractive person never walks through the hotel doors, it’s just he usually never pays any attention. This is different. Maybe, it’s because no one pays him any attention when they check-in. Maybe, it’s because he never had a guest like Yifan before. The man isn’t here for a vacation, obviously. Junmyeon knows Yifan must pay close attention to him. That could explain all the staring.

Lunch moves on slowly as Yifan’s team eat with Jungwoo. The child is adorable and charming, Jongdae, Yuta and Yifan are enthralled by his constant chatter. Yuta does end up asking the kid where his other parent was, to which the kid’s smile wanes a bit as he answers, “I don’t know. Papa tells me he lives with the rabbits on the moon and that’s why he will never come to visit me.”

The three men share a look, easily understanding that Junmyeon is a widower. Yifan briefly glances at Junmyeon, who is flitting around the room, snaking his way through tables, serving food and smiles. No spouse or a significant other then. Not that Yifan should care, right? He’s here for work, not for a holiday romance. He shakes his head and turns his attention back on Jungwoo as he asks, “So, what about the hotel? Do you like staying here?”

Jungwoo beams, “Oh, I love it! I get to eat all the yummy food!”

Yifan chuckles as he leans forward on the table, “Oh? Is that so? Your papa doesn’t stop you?”

Jungwoo smirks, leaning as well, as if he’s about to share a secret, “No, he doesn’t know but Jongin hyung likes me a lot, so he sneaks snacks out for me all the time!”

Yifan feels his heart skip a beat. Jongin? So there could be another man in Junmyeon’s life? “Who’s Jongin hyung? Is he your appa’s friend?”

Jungwoo pouts, “No, no, I don’t know really…” He glances at the ceiling as he mutters, “He could be?”

Yifan tries again, “Does he stay here? Work here?”

Jungwoo shakes his head. “No. He doesn’t wear that white dress as uncle Seokjin and uncle Taekwoon do.” He looks towards the kitchen door and a tall man exits, to whom Jungwoo points at and says, “There! Taekwoon uncle wears a dress!”

The dress is just the chef’s whites, and Yifan understands what the child meant. Another thought formulates in his head and he looks at Jongdae and Yuta. The two men may have had similar thoughts, so they nod. Yuta even brings out his small notepad and jots down the name ‘Jongin’. If not an employee or a guest, this person could very well be a ghost.

 

Junmyeon is stressing out. He had invited the team over to his house for dinner to talk about what they plan to do and about the hotel. He is not entirely sure what he is exactly stressed about though—the dinner, the fact that Yifan will be here or the ghosts. His meeting with the unearthly permanent guests went just as well as he thought it would be.

_“What?” Baekhyun shouts. “You want us to stay away for one whole week? But that is preposterous! We live here!”_

_Even Minseok, the quietest and the oldest of the ghosts, says, “Baekhyun is right. This is our home, why should we be the ones to hide?”_

_Junmyeon sighs; he knows they will be pissed off and protest but he has to try to get his point across. He raises a hand and says, “Guys, come on. what do you think will happen when news gets out that you all haunt this place? What if I end up losing customers? And what if the opposite happens and suddenly people from all across come to my hotel just to find ghosts? I have been doing good business with the good publicity I get, I don’t need this, guys, please.”_

_They all quiet down and it is only after some moments that Lu Han speaks up, “I understand. I don’t know about the rest, but I am with Junmyeon. Why ruin the peace we all have?”_

_The other ghosts listen to Lu Han well, so they slowly agree though Junmyeon notices the malevolent gleam in Baekhyun’s eyes and Junmyeon sighs. Some battles he can’t win, he knows that._

He rubs his face as he thinks about Baekhyun. He knows the man will cause some problems and now Junmyeon will have to be hyper-aware of what goes on. He shakes his head as he decides to concentrate on one thing at a time. He bends down to check on the baked vegetables and smiles when he sees none of them is burnt yet. For dinner, he chose a simple pasta dish with a side of roast vegetables and then dessert, which Taekwoon provided—a delicious peach tart. He also has some white wine chilling. He originally wanted to go with some baked fish but he changed his mind when he observed how Yifan didn’t eat any fish for lunch.

Jungwoo is excited; he has never had so many guests come over. His grandparents (from his other father’s side) visit them a couple of times in a year. But that is the only guests who come here, so he is excited. He is going to show Yuta and Jongdae hyung his secret path to the favourite corner of his beach!

The guests arrive at the moment the vegetables are done. Jungwoo bounds across the floor to open the door. Junmyeon quickly wipes his hands down the apron around his waist and removes it. He finds Yuta, Jongdae and Yifan entering and as they remove their shoes, Yifan and Junmyeon’s gaze lock on each other. Junmyeon’s lips part slightly and as Yifan stares, he is suddenly acutely aware of his hair with his fingers itching to check if all the strands of his hair are in place.

Yifan can’t believe how attractive Junmyeon looks right now. His hair is slightly messy and his light blue t-shirt is so pretty against his pale, slightly flushed skin. Yifan breaks the gaze finally when he feels someone pinch the back of his arm. He whips his head around to find Yuta giving him a shit-eating grin. He has been tormented enough this evening.

_“So,” Jongdae starts as he takes another shot of the gardens. “You and the manager, eh?”_

_“Huh?” Yifan asks, distracted. He is calculating how many outdoor cameras he would need, so he doesn’t process the question. “What about the manager?”_

_Yuta chuckles, “He is quite handsome. And your type.”_

_Yifan finally realises what they are talking about and he glares at them both.  
“Whatever the fuck do you two mean?”_

_“Oh, you know,” Jongdae grins, “How you can’t stop staring and blushing, how he can’t stop staring and blushing…”_

_Yifan feels his face getting warmer again but before he can say anything, Yuta cackles, “Oh my god, he’s blushing again!”_

_Yifan huffs and walks faster, ahead of the two, who are now doubled over, laughing at his expense._

Junmyeon ushers them inside and as Jongdae and Yuta ooh and ahh over the interiors and the view from the massive windows, Yifan watches the way Junmyeon’s eyes shine in amusement and pride. And the house is beautiful. It is not that massive but it is decorated splendidly with ample indoor plants and light wooden furniture. There are books and rugs strewn all over and it looks comfy and lived-in. Junmyeon takes them to the very back where a small reading sunroom sort of area ends at stairs that go up and as they step up, they find themselves in a greenhouse with potted plants, lamps and a long driftwood table. Jongdae and Yuta can’t stop showing their awe at the place and Junmyeon can’t stop smiling.

Jungwoo asks his father, “Papa, papa! Can I take them to the beach? Please!”

Junmyeon pats his head and smiles, “Yes, you can but after dinner, okay?”

“Okay!”

Dinner is delicious; even Yifan ends up complimenting Junmyeon, who blushes a little. Yifan even ends up asking for a second slice of the peach tart. Finally, the food is finished and Jungwoo winds up leading their small party down the hidden path by the end of the garden. The path is lined with small lanterns that illuminate the way. They finally reach the end and the newcomers gasp when they see the stretch of pristine, moonlight-soaked beach. The waves gently kiss the shore and the breeze is light, briny. The cliffs buffer the wind and it’s almost like an alcove, sheltering the beach, making it more private, more secluded. Junmyeon explains, “There is no access to this beach beside the way from the house. The other bigger beach can be accessed from the hotel’s backyard.”

Jungwoo grins, stretching his arms wide open, “This is all mine and papa’s!”

Jungwoo drags Yuta and Jongdae along with him, thus leaving Yifan and Junmyeon alone _again._ The three of them are excited as they run over the sand before them. Yifan and Junmyeon follow but at a much slower pace. Yifan asks some usual questions like when was the hotel built and who built it. Junmyeon gladly answers back and the topic of the haunting do rise but Junmyeon chooses to lie and tells Yifan he has never or heard anything though he is aware people talk about the place on the internet.

Eventually, the conversation ends up on Jungwoo. Yifan learns the kid is six years old and Junmyeon had him through a surrogate. Yifan slips and asks, “A surrogate? But isn’t it hard for single parents in this country to get permission for that?” Yifan didn’t want to admit that he has knowledge of Junmyeon’s status.

Junmyeon smiles, and it is soft but sad as he says, “I, I was married. My husband died in a car accident. Jungwoo doesn’t remember him at all because he was only three months’ old when it happened.”

Yifan swallows, his voice dropping to a whisper as he says, “I am sorry Junmyeon-sshi.”

Junmyeon shrugs, “It’s okay. It has been six years since then and now I chose to focus on the good, happy things about all the time I had with him.”

Yifan nods, “I understand that.” He looks out towards the sea as he sighs, “Grieving drains you.”

Junmyeon presses his lips before he gently prods, “Did you, did you lose someone close to you as well?”

Yifan nods his head again. “I lost my childhood friend to cancer a couple of years ago. I had known him since I was in preschool.”

Junmyeon inaudibly gasps. He chooses to remain silent since he could sense from Yifan’s faraway gaze, he is reminiscing. He just raises his hand and squeezes Yifan’s arm lightly. To lose someone that was so close, so integral to your life is hard to cope with. A spouse or a friend, Junmyeon understands how Yifan might feel right now. The hollowness in the chest that never quite goes away with time. You may learn to ignore it but sometimes you are reminded and that’s when it hurts. Junmyeon stopped crying himself to sleep four years ago but there are still moments when he would see something that would remind him of Kyungsoo and he would feel that emptiness in his heart prickling him and he has to step back and take a deep breath.

Yifan feels the light pressure on his arm and he looks down to find Junmyeon’s fingers curled around his forearm. Junmyeon’s fingers are warm, slightly calloused but Yifan appreciates the gesture. He smiles at Junmyeon, who returns it and lets go of his arm.

Soon, Jungwoo calls for his father and Junmyeon walks ahead to join the others. But he halts, turns his head around and grins, “Come on Yifan-sshi!”

Yifan is starstruck at that grin. The sadness washes away under the moonlight and as Junmyeon smiles, the breeze picks up, blowing his bangs into his eyes and Yifan wishes he could take a picture of that.

 

Jongdae starts the recce work first thing in the morning. Last night they were so tired from the journey and sated with all the food they ate that all three of them passed out as soon as their heads hit the pillows. If ghosts started to dance the cha-cha in their room last night, Jongdae and Yuta wouldn’t even know.

It is truly a beautiful place, Jongdae can’t help but agree and sigh in happiness at the view in front of him. The sun is up and the mist from the sea covers the feet of the large cliffs. The breeze smells briny but Jongdae doesn’t mind. He is walking around the main area and when he reaches the back entry, he finds a lone man standing at the very edge of the property (which is the edge of the cliff). He is dressed in a loose blazer like it wasn’t made for him and his pants too look the same. But he’s stunning and in the sun’s mellow light, Jongdae stares agape. The man realises someone’s staring at him, so he swivels his head and Jongdae widens his eyes, tries to escape but then the man smiles at him, “Are you the ghost hunter?”

Jongdae wonders if this a guest or an employee but he gathers his courage and inches closer, nodding, “Uh, a paranormal investigator is what I prefer.”

The man’s grin widens, his eyes crinkle and Jongdae feels his heart skipping a beat. “So that’s what the kids call themselves now?”

Jongdae frowns even though he still can’t help but think this stranger is unfairly attractive. His dark hair falls into his twinkling eyes and Jongdae is itching to know more. “Yeah okay, I am Jongdae, Kim Jongdae, you are?”

“Lu Han, but you can call me Han.”

“Oh, you’re Chinese?” Jongdae asks in Mandarin, which isn’t the best but it isn’t too awful either.

Lu Han’s grin widens even more as he replies, “Yes, I am from Beijing. Your Mandarin is very good!”

Jongdae laughs, now feeling a bit embarrassed at the compliment. He rubs his neck and says, “My boss is Chinese too, so had to learn the language to help him when we go to China and stuff.” Lu Han is paying attention and that makes Jongdae even more self-conscious, so he shifts gears, “And you? Are you a guest or an employee?”

“Oh, I’m a guest,” Lu Han says as his smile dims a little but it’s gone the next moment. “I am here often.”

A seagull squawks and both men turn their heads to look at the bird taking flight from a tree nearby. Lu Han watches its ascent before turning to Jongdae and sighing, “So, see you around mister Jongdae. It was nice to meet you.”

“You too, Han.”

Lu Han walks back into the hotel and Jongdae watches him leave. However, Lu Han turns his head around as he steps inside and waves at Jongdae, the faintest smile on his face. Jongdae can’t help but smile a little. Han was nice, he was indeed very nice.

 

The hotel has four levels, so Yuta is at the very top now. There are not a lot of rooms here and even though the rooms are booked, he hardly runs into anyone. A random kid does try to throw a ball at him but he is quick, so it misses him. He glares at the kid and the kid just grins back. Damn, children have no manners nowadays. But he is doing recce as well, so he ignores the kid, who runs down the stairs and leaves him alone. He gets back to what he was doing. He eyes the hallways and walls, approximates their heights and lengths to decide on which camera and lens to use. He got the EMF recorder with him too, so just for fun, he whips it out and whispers, “Let’s see huh? Ghosts of Seaview, show yourselves!”

He was standing at one end of the hallway, so he moves to the other end, slowly. He puts the device up to the walls too, just in case, there are some hidden wirings beneath. The machine records high numbers at some points on the wall, which Yuta realises must have internal wiring inside them. He makes a note of it since he would have to report as such to Yifan and Jongdae. He is now at the very end of the wall when he halts in front of a small window. It is closed, so Yuta opens the latch and lets the sea breeze come through. He had been working in a closed hallway for so long, the fresh air ends up feeling great against the sweat accumulating on his neck and hair.

The curtains flutter and brush his cheeks and he takes a lungful of the air. He stands there for some time admiring the view, loving how the sunlight glints off the calm sea. Man, he could wake up to a view like this every day. He shakes his head, trying to rid of the sudden thought and starts walking away from the window. When he’s a good half a dozen or more steps away from the window, he remembers he should probably shut it since it was closed before, so he turns around and the wind blows faster, making the curtains dance. And the EMF recorder screeches in his hand.

He looks down to see the needle at the highest point and when he looks up again, the curtains are no longer moving and draped over someone under the cloth. Yuta swallows, the machine keeps screeching. The shape is human, someone shorter than him. On all his expeditions with Yifan, he had never seen a single ghost—maybe heard a few things—so he isn’t sure what he’s looking at. Yet, his body freezes and fear clinches his lungs, he can’t even speak. He closes his eyes and murmurs, “It’s not real, it’s not real, it’s not real…”

Then, he feels a cold gush of air by his left ear and he stumbles back a little. When he finally opens his eyes, the curtains are dancing with the wind again.

Yuta doesn’t wait to close the window. He just runs.

 

Lunch for the guests is coming to an end and Junmyeon noticed Jongdae and Yuta at the lunch. Jongdae looked cheerful as usual but Yuta looked like he was anxious about something. The younger hardly ate, only picked through his food and left as soon as Jongdae was done. Junmyeon wonders what happened; he did see what a naturally joyful person Yuta was. He hopes everything was okay with the boy.

Junmyeon and his employees are about to sit down and start their lunch when Yifan steps in. He is dressed in his pyjamas and looks like he just woke up. Junmyeon walks up to him and Yifan grins at him all sheepishly as he says, “Sorry, I worked late last night, and woke up now. I know lunch is over—”

Junmyeon shakes his head and smiles, “That’s not a problem. If you don’t mind, you can join us right now.” He looks at the closest table and waves his hand at it, “Why don’t you take a seat? I will get you a plate—”

“Ah, hyung, it’s okay,” the head chef Seokjin walks up to them balancing two plates in one hand. “I made you both plates. Mister Wu, I hope you like beef.”

“Uh,” Yifan is bemused at the chef’s enthusiasm. “I do.”

“Good! Sit down!”

Junmyeon gets pushed down on a chair by an employee, and another brings them water, and when he glares at Seokjin, the man just winks back. He finally understands and he shakes his head slightly. Yifan still looks befuddled but he’s famished, so he jumps on the beef curry and rice immediately. Junmyeon watches Yifan eat for a while before getting to his own food. He notes that Seokjin even left some of the curry toppings and a couple of pickles. He has to talk to his chef about trying to set him up with every handsome man he sees.

Yifan takes a break to gulp down some water. He clears his throat and says, “Your chef is amazing!”

Junmyeon laughs as he puts fried garlic and fresh spring onions on his curry, “Please don’t say it out too loudly. I don’t want his ego to inflate too much.”

“My ego is already inflated a lot but thank you very much!” Seokjin shouts from three tables away.

Yifan laughs as Junmyeon glares at Seokjin and the chef just throws a peace sign at him. Yifan finally notices the bowls of pickles and picks up a cucumber one. As he chews and swallows the cold, tangy vegetable, he asks, “Do you know him for a long time?”

Junmyeon smiles, “We went to college together.”

That begins a conversation of their educational backgrounds and Junmyeon is fascinated to learn that Yifan has studied in three countries and speaks four languages. Yifan learns Junmyeon had always been a good student and he wanted to go for postgraduate studies but couldn’t due to the untimely death of his father.

“My mother was all alone,” Junmyeon explains, “I had to come back from Seoul, leave my internship midway. I was raised here so I knew the ins and outs of the place pretty well. I got to work immediately, steadily taking over from my father. I knew I wanted to end up here eventually, but I really wanted to experience working somewhere else before that.” He shrugs, lifting his glass up and taking a sip. The food has finished but they are still talking. “Seokjin found me a few years ago and basically hired himself for the job. He had gotten married and his husband worked at the college here, so he joined as well.” 

Yifan smiles, “That sounds nice. Did you meet your husband in college as well?”

Junmyeon laughs as he shakes his head. “No, no. He worked at a cafe over at the next town and I really needed a good pastry chef, so my mother managed to wean him off there and then got him here.”

Yifan smiles at the way Junmyeon’s eyes light up and the ends of his lips curl in fondness. Yifan almost feels jealous before he remembers he has no business feeling jealous. “Was it love at first sight, then?”

Junmyeon throws his head back as he laughs, “Oh god no! He was mixing the batter for a cake when we met and I tripped and sent that bowl flying!”

Yifan chuckles, “That sounds terrible!”

“It was!”

The conversation turns to relationships and Yifan makes Junmyeon laugh way too much with his tales of failed dates and over eager fans who only come to see him for his looks rather than his work. It moves on to Yifan’s career and Yifan gives Junmyeon the reason for him sleeping so late: “I had a call from a bunch of people from the USA, they want to team up and do some episodes in Hong Kong. Time differences are a bitch, I swear.”

“Oh, it still sounds fun that you get to travel so much.”

“You don’t travel?”

“When would I have the time? The only trips I take are to my in-laws’ who live in Busan. I almost managed to plan a trip to Disneyland Japan but couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Storms hit us that year and we had to deal with a lot of damage. It didn’t feel right to leave when my hotel and their people needed me.”

“You have a lot of responsibilities…”

“That I do! But it’s okay, I don’t mind. I just think Jungwoo misses out in life, maybe.”

“He’s only six, he will not even remember a trip properly. Take him when he’s older, I’m sure he will appreciate it more then.”

“That’s a good idea! Anyway, how’s your work going here?”

“Jongdae and Yuta are doing a walk over. Are you sure you never saw or heard anything?”

Junmyeon chooses to lie again. “Nope. Maybe I’m dense? I have heard how some people are naturally able to sense these things, but I don’t? I don’t know, you’re the expert!”

“The accepted idea is that ghosts are nothing but bundles of energy. This physicist in Hangu-nam has done a lot of research on it. I really liked his work.”

The sun had started to slowly descend the sky and it is only when one of the employees turn on a light that Junmyeon realises how much time had passed. He sits up straight and says, “Oh dear, I have to get my son from the creche.”

“Sure, sure,” Yifan too realised how much he talked today and how long he kept blabbering. He gets to his feet and says, “Thanks for lunch and the company.”

Junmyeon’s cheeks are flushed pink as he says, “No, I appreciate it too.”

They bid their goodbyes and Yifan is the first to leave. Seokjin appears from nowhere and claps his hands, “You guys went on for three hours! I call this a win!”

Junmyeon rolls his eyes as he picks up the dishes. “Stop it, will you? He isn’t here to look for a date. And I—you know.”

As Junmyeon walks towards the kitchen, Seokjin softly says, “It has been six years hyung. Kyungsoo wouldn’t want to see you like this either you know.”

Junmyeon swallows, feeling his chest tightening at the name of his dead husband. He knows this isn’t infidelity of any kind, yet, he remains unwilling. Though he has to admit, this is the most he had shared with anyone that he has known for only a day. So, he quietly replies, “I know.”

Seokjin doesn’t say anything more and leaves with a gentle press on Junmyeon’s shoulder. The lunchroom has emptied out, so Junmyeon just stands there for some time, his gaze fixed at the sea from the window, lost in his thoughts.

Meanwhile, behind a wall, Sehun and Jongin share a look and grin. They _have_ to tell this to the others. It’s not every day they get to bother Junmyeon’s crush.

 

Next morning, as Yuta fiddles with the equipment, he ends up telling Jongdae what he saw. Jongdae whistles, “So, you’re saying the hauntings here could be true?”

“Could be,” Yuta says, nodding his head. “But hyung, I don’t know what I saw. I mean, we hardly ever see anything, so why now?”

Jongdae shakes his head, “I know we don’t, but there have been a handful of situations when the boss and I have come across some really genuine stuff. Maybe, this place is a gold mine.” His fingers tap on his thigh as he says, “We have to set up a camera at the topmost level then.”

Yutao whines, “Why don’t you go? I don’t want to go, please.”

“Scared Potter?” Jongdae smirks.

Yuta rolls his eyes. “Yes, Jongdae Malfoy, I am terribly scared. Now, go.” Then, he mutters under his breath. “You’re such a Slytherin, I swear.”

Jongdae cackles, “Well, you’re definitely not a Gryffindor my friend!”

Yuta grumbles some more but Jongdae has already left the room. He takes the stairs to the last level and finds it mostly empty. A family of four pass him by and he waits for them to go down the stairs before busting the cameras out. He has his foldable ladder with him, so he gets to work. It takes him little under twenty minutes to set the whole place up and when he’s done, he comes to stand by the window Yuta mentioned. He runs his fingers down the frame and doesn’t find any wire or such things used to trick people. As Jongdae thinks, he wonders maybe this place is like that hotel in Belize or that house in Hong Kong. He shrugs as he opens the window and pops his head out. To his delight, he spots Yifan helping Junmyeon with unloading boxes from a truck. Yifan says something and the manager blushes. Jongdae grins; looks like his boss is actually flirting.

He pulls back from the window and as he tries to close it, he finds the frame jammed. He coaxes it yet and grunts in frustration when it doesn’t relent. Suddenly, all the hair on his neck rise. He feels like somebody’s watching him. He remembers Yuta’s encounter again and he eyes the curtains, which aren’t moving, yet…

“Need some help?” someone asks. Jongdae turns his head around to find Lu Han standing by the wall, leaning on it with his hips and grinning at him. he is wearing the same suit from yesterday and even his hair looks the same, but he has an unlit cigarette hanging from his lips. Jongdae heaves a sigh of relief and thanks god that it’s just the handsome man from yesterday and not some ghost.

Jongdae shrugs, “Can’t close this window.”

“Oh?” Lu Han tucks the cigarette back in his jacket pocket and comes closer. “Here, let me help.”

Lu Han puts his arms around Jongdae and his hands come resting atop Jongdae’s and Jongdae tries very hard to not blush. Lu Han smells faintly of smoke but also like musk, like an old-fashioned cologne and it’s sexy. Together, they manage to shut the window and when it is jammed back in place, Lu Han speaks, and his lips almost brush Jongdae’s ear, “That is one stubborn window, huh.”

Jongdae smiles as he turns his head. His eyes widen slightly when he realises Lu Han’s face is too close to his. He notes how Lu Han has freckles on his nose and a scar under his lower lip. There are fine lines around his eyes that betray his age, yet, he is still easily the most attractive man ever. And he too is staring at Jongdae’s lips.

It is Lu Han who steps back first, clearing his throat. Jongdae manages to weakly mumble, “Uh, thank you.”

Lu Han waves his hand and smiles, “Not a problem. See you around.”

As Lu Han walks down the stairs, Jongdae leans back against the wall and grins, touching his lips. Maybe, he should take his chance the next time he meets this mysterious, handsome stranger.

 

After breakfast got over, Yifan instructed Yuta and Jongdae to take some preliminary recordings and find which spots could possibly be active. Yuta makes a strange, conflicted face at that but he nods and grabs Jongdae as they leave the lunchroom. Yifan, meanwhile, makes up his mind to go find Junmyeon and ask him some questions about the hotel’s past. Yes, work, he is going to look for Junmyeon because of work and not because he looked too handsome in his red t-shirt and ripped jeans today. Yifan only got a glimpse since the man was too busy to even wave or smile at him (not that Yifan’s sentiments were hurt _at all_ ).

Another chef called Taekwoon tells him where he can find Junmyeon and Yifan heads for the loading dock at the very back of the hotel. At the northern facing boundary wall, a service road leads up to the pantry and since Yifan had already looked over the hotel’s blueprints, he knew where the loading dock was. He finds Junmyeon there easily enough, on his knees, peering under a truck. Yifan knows it is impolite and downright creepy to stare at someone’s ass but he has never seen anyone pulling off jeans this well. So, yes, he stares.

Junmyeon finally finds what he’s looking for and straightens up. He hands something that looks like a key to this woman and she bows, thanking him. Junmyeon finally notices Yifan standing and breaks out into a beatific smile. Yifan walks closer; Junmyeon and the woman are unloading crates from the back of the truck and it smells like those boxes contain citrus fruits. Yifan decides to give them a hand.

Junmyeon is unwilling to accept a guest’s help but Yifan insists, flashing his gummy smile, so Junmyeon relents. the work finishes faster too at an extra pair of hands. All of the boxes are soon on the ground, so the woman takes the cash payment from Junmyeon and drives off. Junmyeon counts all the boxes, noting them down with Yifan’s help. When they are done, Junmyeon cracks open a box and grabs a round, green fruit and asks, “Have you ever tried sweet lime?”

Yifan shakes his head. “Sweet limes? Can’t say I have…”

Junmyeon grins as he sits down on the step of the dock. He fishes a penknife from his jeans and slices open the fruit. He halves it, then quarters it and hands Yifan a slice. Yifan takes it, but he’s confused as to how to eat it, so Junmyeon shows him. Junmyeon puts the fruit into his mouth with peel side facing out and using his teeth, sucks the juice out of the pulp. Yifan follows suit and he is taken aback by the sweet yet tangy flavour. Junmyeon warns him, “Don’t try to suck too much or else you will end up at the bitter rind.”

Yifan finishes the first quarter and then another eagerly. Junmyeon laughs at his eagerness and says, “Would you like a bottle of sweet lime juice then?”

Yifan grins, “Yes, please.” He looks at Junmyeon and notices a small drop of juice curving down his chin. He raises his hand and uses his thumb to wipe the juice off. Junmyeon inaudibly gasps at the sudden touch and his eyes further widen when Yifan puts his thumb in his mouth and speaks around the digit, “Had some juice on your chin.”

Junmyeon feels his whole face heating up and he knows it has nothing to do with the sun. He can’t tear his gaze away from Yifan’s lips pursed around his thumb and Yifan too, can’t stop staring at Junmyeon’s mouth. Junmyeon lifts his gaze, so does Yifan, and for a moment, none of them breathes. Yifan puts his hand down on the space between them, putting his weight on it. As Yifan unconsciously leans forward, drawn by Junmyeon’s parted lips and hooded eyes, Junmyeon too does the same without thinking.

When their heads move closer still, someone calls for Junmyeon and the man jerks back. He gets to his feet and bows at Yifan, muttering, “See you later mister Wu.”

Junmyeon scurries away, his brain whirring. Did he just want to _kiss_ Yifan? It was Taekwoon who called him, wanting to see the citrus fruit inventory and Junmyeon is almost pissed at the pastry chef. And when he asks himself why he hates the answer. He _really_ wanted to kiss Yifan. _But why_? A bit more and he would have known how those plump lips feel. He groans and runs his hands through his hair. Taekwoon and his assistant look at him with distaste and confusion respectively.

Back on the step, Yifan sits under the summer sun and tries to understand why he feels relieved and upset at the same time. He doesn’t go around wanting to kiss people because he doesn’t want to give anyone any sort of expectation. But Junmyeon is different. He is hardworking, kind and has had to deal with a tragedy like losing his husband. Yifan doesn’t know how Junmyeon would interpret his stupid little crush (he might as well admit that) but he is more upset thinking that Junmyeon might not want him back. He is the one who suddenly wishes for more. If only his job wasn’t to go look for ghosts…

Sehun watches the whole thing and grins. This is getting more and more interesting. He has to report this to Jongin and Baekhyun.

 

“What are you doing?”

Lu Han gets startled when he hears a voice behind him. He is standing at the edge of the cliff again, the cigarette hanging from his lips, still unlit. Minseok stands behind him, arms crossed with a prize-winning scowl on his face. Lu Han knows what Minseok is referring to, so he sighs, “I don’t know.”

“He’s human, Han,” Minseok joins him, shaking his head.

Lu Han groans and kicks the earth. “You think I don’t know that? I can’t help him Minseok, I just can’t! He looks so much like the man I once loved Minseok! How am I supposed to stay away?”

Minseok walks closer to Lu Han and grabs his forearm, gripping tightly. He softly says, “Han, I know we can’t move from this place and I know you hate this sometimes, but imagine how the man would feel if he knew you were a ghost.”

Lu Han sighs again, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know, I don’t know.”

The first day he saw Jongdae, he was greatly taken aback. He looked so much like a boy he knew back when he was in college, back when the world was still trying to free itself from war and bloodshed. He met the boy here, or what is now North Korea. A shell attacked them and Lu Han lost him forever. He didn’t think he would find his face in Jongdae after almost fifty years. The temptation to appear in front of Jongdae was too hard to resist. He knows what he’s doing is wrong and with the way Jongdae looked at him today, he knows he should stop this.

 

The last three days have been quiet and Junmyeon was so relieved that everything went okay and the ghosts didn’t act up too much. He hasn’t seen Baekhyun at all these days yet he is still on his toes, ready to tackle whatever that ghost would try. So far, so peaceful

The fourth day went peacefully as well and now it’s night. Junmyeon is putting Jungwoo to bed. Jungwoo requested a story, so Junmyeon is reading a tale from the storybook his mother-in-law sent a while ago. It is a tale of a prince and a princess, and as Junmyeon reads, “The prince was tall with dark, almost midnight black hair—”

“Like mister Wu?” Jungwoo asks. “And the princess is all fair like you!”

Junmyeon chokes; he gently closes the book and raises an eyebrow at his son. “Why am I a princess?”

“You’re shorter than mister Wu.” Jungwoo erupts into giggles and Junmyeon grins. He tickles Jungwoo and the child screams in glee. Junmyeon is on his back and Jungwoo’s head is on his chest when the child says, “Papa? Do you like mister Wu?”

What a loaded question to ask, Junmyeon muses. He wraps his arms around Jungwoo and presses his lips on top of the boy’s head. As he breathes in Jungwoo’s berry-scented shampoo, he thinks carefully before he says, “Is it okay if papa likes someone?”

Jungwoo shakes his head. “No, no! Papa can like anyone he wants! Then mister Wu will be the prince and you can be the princess and we can all live happily ever after!”

Junmyeon laughs though he wonders how Yifan would see that, however. From what he has learnt, Yifan doesn’t want a relationship because he doesn’t have the time for it. And Junmyeon doesn’t want a fling—he honestly doesn’t have the time or emotional capability to handle that at this point of his life. He is not alone but he’s lonely.  He has friends, he has his son, he has a whole damn hotel to run but he still wishes for someone to come home to, someone to wait to come home to. Someone who will hold him at night, someone who he can go on dates with, holding hands. He wants all that.

Junmyeon does finish reading the story and Jungwoo says, as his eyes droop, “Jongin and Sehun hyungs say they think mister Wu would look nice with you, papa.”

Junmyeon frowns, why are the ghosts discussing him and Yifan? Jungwoo falls asleep and Junmyeon slowly pads out of the room. He is still thinking about the almost-kiss yesterday and he is smiling even though he knows that couldn’t have been the greatest idea ever. His musings are cut short when the landline rings.

Junmyeon frowns; the landline has a direct line connecting his home and the hotel. It is ten in the night, so he is suddenly reminded of Baekhyun and he rushes over to pick up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hey, mister Kim, it’s me Hongbin from the front desk. You need to come over, I have a couple screaming bloody murder and they want to see the manager.”

Junmyeon groans, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Okay, okay, I will be there.” He is about to put down the phone when he remembers, “Say, can you see what the three guys are doing?”

“Sure, sir.”

Junmyeon slips on some shoes and rushes out of the house. He is heaving by the time he reaches the front desk and finds two men huddled on the couch, muttering amongst themselves. Hongbin, the night front desk guy, walks up to Junmyeon and says, “They say there are people in their room.”

“People?” Junmyeon pants.

“Are you the manager?” one of the men ask. Junmyeon nods and the man starts tearing up. “I don’t know what I saw but it was something, someone in the room with us, please believe me.”

His spouse joins him and grabs the other’s shoulder, squeezes them as he says, “I think Mingyu just had a bad dream—”

“No! No, I am not!”

Junmyeon didn’t want a fight on his hands, so he raises his hands and says, “Don’t worry, I will go check now.”

“Do you mind if we join?”

Junmyeon turns around to find Yifan, Jongdae and Yuta standing behind him. Junmyeon tries to keep it off his face because this is what he really didn’t want. He just nods and asks Hongbin for the floor and room number—he frowns when he realises that is Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s floor. He curses at them inside his head. If Yifan and his team find any sort of evidence in that room, he is screwed. He doesn’t know what he will do, so he starts thinking about a plausible excuse.

The couple were asleep when one of them, Mingyu, the taller one, woke up all of a sudden to see three shadows looming over him. He had woken up his husband, Wonwoo, only to be told that he was probably having sleep paralysis. Mingyu insisted on calling the front desk and left the room when Wonwoo wouldn’t. Junmyeon mentally groans; this sounds exactly like something Baekhyun would do.

They open the door to their room and as expected, they find nothing. Jongdae and Yuta even try to check the EMF recordings in the room but get minimal readings that they place on the wiring in the room. As Yifan and his team move about the room, Junmyeon steps out for a moment and quietly says under his breath, “Baekhyun? I know it’s you.”

Baekhyun appears with Chanyeol and Sehun, and besides Chanyeol, the other two are grinning, looking very proud of themselves. Junmyeon scowls, “How many times did I tell you not attract the paranormal investigators’ attention?”

“Oh, come on,” Baekhyun whines. “I was bored!”

“And this is my hotel’s reputation!”

Baekhyun’s face turns grim, “Don’t forget I died here and I have been here longer than you have. If I’m gonna be stuck here forever, might as well do something about it.”

Junmyeon quiets down and he swallows back the scream clawing at his tongue. He crosses his arms and groans. He hears footsteps and he looks up to find Baekhyun, Sehun and Chanyeol disappearing. He hears Jongdae ask, “Hey, hyung, what are you doing here?”

Junmyeon smiles, “Nothing, just checking in on my son. I left him alone.”

Jongdae nods, though Junmyeon can tell he didn’t look convinced. Yuta suddenly shouts from inside the room, “Whoa boss! Check this out!”

Jongdae rushes inside and Junmyeon bites his tongue, worrying about what it might be. He enters the room to find Yifan and Yuta doubled over a corner with their recorders beeping loudly. Yuta is triumphant as he says, “There is no wiring here, so there had to be an actual spirit in this room!”

Junmyeon bites back the groan as he watches Jongdae snatch the recorder, grinning as he reads it. Yifan crosses his arms and nods at Junmyeon, “Okay, you have to tell us if your hotel had any deaths here.”

Junmyeon sighs, “There haven’t been any deaths since I took over so I will have to dig out some records.”

Yifan stares at Junmyeon for a moment. He is in matching printed sleepwear and his hair is all fluffed up, and if it was anything else, he would think Junmyeon looks cute. But right now, his blank face and his crossed arms tell Yifan the man is hiding something. Junmyeon had avoided him today due to the whatever the fuck happened between them last afternoon and Yifan is trying hard to focus on now and the man’s rigid body language instead think about why he was being ignored.

Yifan shakes his head and looks at Jongdae, “Get Byuli to do some research as well. Get her to dig through the news archive of this place and tell her to start from the very beginning of this hotel.” He turns to look at Junmyeon again. “And when is that, by the way? Like not the inauguration but the day the foundation was laid.”

Junmyeon clears his throat, “That would be 1947.”

“Cool, thank you.”

“If there’s nothing else, I have guests to take care of,” Junmyeon uncrosses his arms and blinks at Yifan, who looks kind of cold and distant to him. Yifan had always been smiling at him, so this face is kind of putting Junmyeon off and making him worry. He realises Yifan knows he is lying. And his heart pounds, suddenly distraught at the thought of Yifan hating him.

“No, you can go, mister Kim.”

Junmyeon leaves the room but his heart is still thundering in his chest. He tries to rationalise, to make sense of his feelings. Yifan is temporary, in a few days, he will be back to his city life in Seoul, Hong Kong or wherever. Why is he so suddenly upset about that? He can’t, _just cannot_ fall for a man like Yifan, no matter what. As Yifan said, he has too many responsibilities.

Back in the room, Jongdae clicks his tongue, “That was too cold hyung.”

“What?” Yifan asks as he starts walking out of the room. Jongdae and Yuta follow, sharing glances. They clearly noticed the weird way Yifan and Junmyeon were behaving.

“You and mister Kim. Like, first of all, you don’t even call him mister Kim.”

Yifan whips his head around, glaring at his assistants, “This is none of your business, Jongdae, okay?”

Yuta sighs, “Listen, I know he is hiding something, but we two also realise you like him, so don’t be so rude to him?”

Yifan groans, hating that they have him figured out this well. “Guys, stop. You know I don’t do this whole liking business.”

“What’s so bad about this whole liking business, hm?” Jongdae asks, lifting his eyebrows. “Junmyeon seems like a good person and he is hard-working. Is he being a dad and widower bother you?”

“No!” Yifan protests, his eyes widening. He likes the kid and the dead husband factor never bothered him. “Just—”

Jongdae shakes his head as he walks away, “Stop making excuses for yourself, hyung. It’s not healthy.”

Yuta too follows Jongdae, “Yep.”

Yifan’s room was on the floor above, so he simply watches his assistants abandon him in the empty hallway. He looks at his feet for some time and he finally makes up his mind. He likes Junmyeon, he really does. And he has to know now if the other feels the same.

 

Next morning, Jongdae is largely sleep-deprived when the loud ringing of his phone jolts him awake. He wakes up to Yuta’s foot on his chest for some reason. The younger is deeply asleep, face smashed in his pillow. Jongdae and he spent last night putting up cameras in the corridor of the couple’s room. Jongdae stretches his body to pick the phone up and finds it’s Byuli calling.

“Hey,” Jongdae rasps.

“Did I wake you up?” Byuli chuckles. “Well, sorry not sorry for that, check your damn emails.”

Jongdae frowns, groaning, “I will, you asshat.”

“Goodbye, you troll.”

Jongdae crawls over to his laptop and opens his mail. He sees Byuli’s massive email with a dozen attachments. He claps a hand over mouth and groans. He is too asleep to go through all of this—he needs coffee. He hears the sheets rustling behind him and turns around to find Yuta slowly stirring awake. The sunlight dapples over him, hitting his eyes as he blinks himself awake. He smiles at Jongdae, rubbing his eyes as he says, “Hey, hyung. Morning.”

 Jongdae smiles back; Yuta looks adorable when he wakes up, he has noticed. He shakes his head to rid of that strange thought and he says, “Byuli sent us a large-ass email. Get us some coffee, okay? And see if you know if Junmyeon got those records.”

Yuta yawns, “On it, hyung.”

Yuta drags himself out of the room after freshening up in the bathroom. Jongdae opens the attachments and finds many of them to be scans of newspaper clippings. Byuli had organised them in folders according to the year. He opens the folders one by one, choosing the most relevant ones and putting the others aside. So far, six deaths hook his interest, so he saves them on his laptop. He stretches and Yuta returns with coffee for them.

Yuta plops down on the mattress beside him and hands Jongdae his cup of Americano while he sips on his latte. Yuta peers at the laptop and asks, “So, what is it?”

Jongdae swallows the coffee, “Byuli sent across some newspaper clippings, and so far, six deaths seem like it could be something. Let’s finish our coffees and head for boss’s room.”

Yuta and Jongdae quiet down and face each other as they drink their coffee. Yuta cracks a bad joke and Jongdae almost falls back on the bed in laughter. Yuta chuckles along, feeling happy that he made his favourite hyung laugh. As Jongdae wipes his lips, Yuta mentally sighs. He has such a silly crush on his hyung, and he can’t even own up to it or tell Jongdae. And he knows Jongdae might never feel the same.

Yuta was fresh out of college when Jongdae hired him as his assistant. He was already an ardent fan of Wu Yifan, so accepting the internship was something he would never say no to. Now, it has been three years and he knows how he feels for the man who trained him but he also knows Jongdae doesn’t see him anything more than a friend and a colleague.

The coffee is finished and now that they are more awake, Jongdae and Yuta start their work. Jongdae reads through while Yuta takes notes. They put the deaths into chronological order first, so Jongdae speaks, “First death occurred in 1954, the next one pretty close to it in 1956. The third one in 1968, the fourth in 1970, two months after the second Korean war ended. The fifth one occurred in 1988 and the last one took place twenty-four years later in 2010.”

“That is a large gap,” Yuta comments.

“That means that there is no pattern to the deaths, so we can rule out a patient zero for this haunting.” Jongdae stretches and yawns, “Now, my eyes hurt looking at yellowed newspaper clippings. You read I will write.”

“Okay!”

They switch places and Yuta starts reading next, “So, the very first on-site death was of Kim Minseok; he was in his early forties, natural death, a heart attack. The second one is Kim Jongin, this one’s a bit morose, suicide and even left a note, claiming he took his life because the love of his life rejected him. The third one is a Byun Baekhyun, uh, tripped and broke his neck; his widow almost sued the hotel. Next, Oh Sehun, murder, solved and his killer died in prison ten years ago. Lastly, Park Chanyeol, accidental death, drowned in the bathtub, fell asleep.”

Jongdae scribbles it all down and as he counts, he frowns, “Ah, you missed one Yuta.”

“Uh,” Yuta squints at the screen as he scrolls through the images again. He gasps when he realises he did miss someone. “Right, I did, Lu Han in 1971, freak accident, fired a gun in his room and the bullet ricocheted back to him. Tough luck.” Yuta scoffs, turning his head around to gauge Jongdae’s reaction but the man is staring into nothing with his eyes wide and his face is slowly losing colour. Yuta gets worried and he cups Jongdae’s shoulders, asking softly “Hyung?”

Jongdae swallows, forcing his gaze back on Yuta, “Lu Han, I have met him Yuta…”

 

Yifan is tinkering with audio recorders on the second level when he hears footsteps. He is a bit rattled due to a lack of sleep, stress over Junmyeon and the fact that the audio recorder did pick up noises even though the video cameras didn’t pick up any images. He had stayed awake almost till dawn watching the monitors and he had clearly heard footsteps, knocking and someone whispering unintelligible things. So, the loud steps startle him.

However, it is only Junmyeon with a tray of two cups in his hands. He sends Yifan a small smile and Yifan climbs down the stool. Junmyeon hands him a cup and looks around to put down the tray somewhere when Yifan takes it out of his hand and puts it down on the stool. Junmyeon grins, “Thank you.”

Junmyeon had just washed his hair, so it is still damp and his bangs are plastered to his forehead. Yifan has his back to the window, so the sunlight falls on Junmyeon and into his dark eyes which turn into the colour of honey and Yifan is mesmerised. No person should be this beautiful, he thinks. Junmyeon, though, thinks something is wrong, so he asks, “Is the coffee not to your liking?”

Honestly, Yifan hadn’t even looked into the cup, but he finally does and notices it is his usually flat white. He rubs his neck and grins, “No, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” Junmyeon giggles. “You didn’t even taste it!” Yifan hurriedly takes a sip and Junmyeon scoffs, “You can be honest, I made the coffee today not my usual barista and I’m not very good at it.”

True, the flat white’s ratio of coffee to milk is slightly off but Yifan doesn’t have the heart to point it out, so he shakes his head, “Nope, this is good.”

Junmyeon blushes as he looks away. He spots the camera and the recorder; he swallows and asks, “Did you catch anything?”

“Just sounds,” Yifan informs. “I had an employee look into some deaths here as well. Are you sure you don’t remember any?”

Junmyeon sighs, “Well, I know there were a few back in the day of my father and grandfather but I remember one incident that happened when I lived in Seoul. A young man named Chanyeol drowned in his bathtub. It was an accident. He had taken two sleeping pills since he couldn’t sleep well without them and decided to take a bath before bed. It was really unfortunate. It was a week before his sister’s wedding.”

“Oh,” Yifan hums. “And his room?”

Junmyeon smiles, “I have asked my assistant to dig up all the records. She will get back to me by the end of the day. I know you may require more personal details.” Junmyeon takes a longer sip of his coffee before asking, “Can I, I mean, will you be taking permission from the dead people’s families? As far as I can recall, Chanyeol’s family is still alive.”

Yifan nods, “Of course, we will. We would have acquired rights before the actual shooting begins.” Yifan nearly finishes his coffee in the next gulp. “But,” Yifan looks over his shoulder, smiling at the view, “Even if I didn’t get any proof, I would have still liked to come back here. It’s a beautiful place.”

Junmyeon feels warm under the praise. “Then, do return. Even if it’s not for ghosts.”

Yifan looks back at Junmyeon and he swallows. Junmyeon is smiling; his eyes are focused on Yifan and Yifan only, so he whispers, “Obviously. If not for ghosts, I know there are other things to stay back for.” For a moment, it surprises Yifan he meant those words so easily. He knows when he leaves; he will not be able to rid of Junmyeon from his thoughts. The failure or success of this expedition doesn’t even matter to him now. So, when Junmyeon’s lips part in an inaudible gasp, Yifan places the cup on the tray and braves an inch closer.

Junmyeon shivers, he knows what could happen next. He wonders what Yifan meant but deep down he knows, he hopes. When Yifan moves closer, he steps forward too. Just when Yifan is about to raise his hand to cup his face, loud, hurried footsteps are heard thundering up the stairs. Junmyeon jumps back and Yifan takes a deep, angry breath.

Jongdae and Yuta burst in on the hallway and they both shout at the same time.

“This place is haunted!”

“There are spirits here for sure!”

Junmyeon scowls; did one of the ghosts show themselves? He gets his answer when Jongdae says, “I saw one of them, Lu Han.” He turns to glare at Junmyeon and says, “And your son mentioned a Jongin. They are both dead—you have been lying to us, haven’t you?”

“I—excuse me,” Junmyeon walks away, his brain whirring. Lu Han never shows, he hardly ever shows up in front of him, the owner of the hotel, why would he mess up so badly? He is running by the time he gets to the edge that Lu Han likes and loudly whispers, “Han, please, I need to talk to you.”

The winds blow, a bird chirps loudly and for a moment, Junmyeon thinks this is useless, but then a soft voice says, “I am sorry Junmyeon, I couldn’t resist.”

Junmyeon turns around to find Lu Han with wet eyes and quivering lips. He says, “Jongdae, Jongdae looked like someone I knew Junmyeon, I am so sorry.”

Junmyeon groans, “You knew, you knew they would eventually get to know about you and the rest.”

“So, you do know,” a deep, grim voice enters the space and Junmyeon feels his heart dropping to his knees when he sees Yifan, Jongdae and Yuta gaping at Lu Han. Junmyeon just murmurs, “Fuck.”

 

Lu Han remains in the room, and so do the other ghosts appear one by one. The EMF was going insane, so Yuta shut it off. Junmyeon, only when he assured they mean no harm, did everyone somewhat relax as Junmyeon started telling the strange tale of the hotel.

“This hotel is not built on hallowed ground or a cursed ground, for that matter. But for some reason, whoever dies on the property is unable to leave. Minseok was the first guest who died and Chanyeol is the last. My grandfather knew about his, my father did and so do I. We were all of the same minds that this can’t be revealed to the world. We want guests to come here and enjoy themselves, we didn’t want to turn into a freak attraction.”

Baekhyun, the impish ghost with the slightly off angle neck, says, “I would be such a crowd-pleaser.”

Yuta, with his heart still pounding, whispers, “No shit, Sherlock.”

The six ghosts are all standing in Junmyeon’s office and Yuta (Yifan and Jongdae as well) is having a meltdown. His four years of chasing ghosts didn’t prepare him for this. He could place them all by the pictures he had seen of them. Minseok looks normal, dressed in era-appropriate clothes and thin-framed gold spectacles. Yuta would have easily mistaken him for a professor. Beside him stands Baekhyun with the broken neck and Chanyeol who drowned; the latter’s whole face is swollen and tinted the lightest blue. Jongin and Sehun stand in another corner, and Yuta can’t look away from Sehun’s stab wound or the blood still clotted around his t-shirt. It is sort of jarring to see those two together as Jongin is dressed like Minseok and Sehun is in a tight muscle tee and jeans from the 80s. Lastly, his gaze lands on Lu Han, who stands there with his arms crossed and head bowed. Yuta swallows; Jongdae did tell him that he developed a crush of a kind on this man. Yuta knows he can’t be jealous of a dead man, but he can’t help the fury bubbling in his guts.

Yifan rubs his lips as he muses out loud, “There are no mines around here, no electromagnetic field. I have never seen a haunting like this. Do you really not know?”

Minseok speaks this time, “As the first ghost, I tried to understand as well. But when Jongin arrived and he couldn’t pass on, we both came to realise this place was stopping us.”

Jongdae, who had been staring at Lu Han all this while, softly asks, “Doesn’t that make you resentful?”

Baekhyun laughs, “Not really. We keep ourselves entertained by spooking the guests, especially the assholes!”

Junmyeon turns to glare at Baekhyun. Jongin shyly adds, “And Jungwoo too, he is fun to hang with. We are not lonely here.”

Sehun adds, throwing his hand around Jongin, “Yeah, we aren’t alone.”

Junmyeon takes a deep breath. He watches Yifan get up and walk towards the back door that opens into a patio. Junmyeon follows and Yifan doesn’t even turn around as he says, “I understand why you wouldn’t want people poking their nose here. You don’t want people like us to hassle them.”

“Yes,” Junmyeon says, closing the door behind him. “They all died for one reason or another. In their afterlife, I don’t want them to be disturbed. That’s why I lied.”

Junmyeon joins him and puts his elbows on the railing. Yifan asks, “So if people stay when they die, what about your father?”

Junmyeon smiles, “He died on a hospital bed.”

“And your husband?”

“No, he too died in the hospital.” If he closes his eyes, he can still recall the night he came rushing back to the hospital after Kyungsoo’s death, shouting at the ghosts to bring Kyungsoo to him. It was Minseok who calmed him down and told him Kyungsoo can’t come back, no matter what. “He didn’t die on this property.”

“Good,” Yifan sighs, then he chuckles as he murmurs, “Because if he knew how I feel about you, he would push me down some stairs.”

Junmyeon gasps, his head whipping around to stare at Yifan. He had heard Yifan loud and clear. He realises Yifan isn’t joking, his dark eyes are sincere and he is biting on his lower lip. Junmyeon collects his errant thoughts and whispers, “How you feel about me?”

Yifan cups his cheeks and the touch is warm and soft and Junmyeon almost melts. Yifan comes closer and says, “I like you like I have never liked anyone else.”

“I—” Junmyeon still looks for a sliver of dishonesty from Yifan but he can’t find it. Yifan silently seeks permission and Junmyeon nods, and then Yifan gently presses his lips against his. Junmyeon’s eyes flutter closed and he can’t help but smile. But it doesn’t last too long and Yifan leans back, apprehensive and chewing his lip. He asks, “Was that too much?”

Junmyeon chuckles, and puts his hands on Yifan’s chest. He can feel how fast Yifan’s heart is beating under his palms, so he brushes his nose against Yifan’s and says, “No, not at all. In fact, I think it wasn’t enough.”

Yifan laughs before moving his hand to cup the back of Junmyeon’s head and leaning forward again, this time determined to kiss Junmyeon properly. Junmyeon determines that this kiss—as Yifan gently tugs on his lower lip—is definitely close to “enough”.

 

**A year later**

Junmyeon blows a raspberry and plants his head on the desk. The day receptionist, Jaehwan, chuckles, “You okay, boss?”

“I want to scream,” Junmyeon speaks, his voice muffled since his face is pressed into his forearm, “If I get another question about that damned post today, I will scream.”

“Well, you can scream at your boyfriend,” Jaehwan laughs.

Junmyeon raises his head to admonish Jaehwan but finds the other waving at someone and when he follows his gaze, he sees Yifan getting down from a taxi. A porter rushes forward to grab his bags and Junmyeon moves out from behind the counter to greet him. Yifan walks faster and pulls Junmyeon into a tight hug. Junmyeon laughs as Yifan nuzzles into his shoulder, murmuring, “I missed you.”

“Hungarian ghosts couldn’t keep you occupied enough?” Junmyeon asks. He too wrapped his limbs tighter around Yifan because he missed Yifan too much as well. “Welcome back, Yifan.”

“It was a set-up, and a very stupid one,” Yifan huffs and leans back, cupping Junmyeon’s face. “I wanted to return as soon as the shoot ended. I wasn’t going to stay for another day. It’s good to be back home, love.”

Junmyeon feels his heart expanding with the pure adoration and love he feels for this tall man. He rubs circles into Yifan’s neck and then laughs, “And where are Jongdae and Yuta?”

Yifan rolls his eyes. His two assistants have been dating for a couple of months now and they asked to be given a leave of a few days, to stay in Budapest some more—Yifan didn’t have the heart to say no. He explains all this to Junmyeon and then asks after Jungwoo. They are now at the door of the chapel-turned-loft apartment and Junmyeon answers, “Oh, he’s been missing you too.”

Junmyeon opens the door and the sound makes Jungwoo exit his room. He peers over the balcony and squeals when he sees Yifan, “Fan uncle is back!”

Jungwoo races down the stairs and Yifan kneels, opening his arms and Jungwoo jumps right into his arms. The boy hugs Yifan as tightly as he can and then pulls back, his eyes widening as he says, “You have to tell me everything you did!”

Yifan scrunches his nose, “Eh, it was kind of boring.” Jungwoo isn't deterred, he needs the details anyway. He drags Yifan to the couch and Yifan decides to derail him by unzipping his bag and showing him all the things he got for Jungwoo. 

Junmyeon watches his son and his lover banter for some time and he can’t help but smile. When he started dating Yifan, he was afraid Jungwoo and he wouldn’t be able to adjust to each other. His doubts were cleared when Yifan warmed up to Jungwoo and his son did the same. Now, a year later, he is glad they like each other.

A year ago, Yifan agreed to not shoot a video but he still wanted to do a blog post. The post attracted a lot of attention—some news channels covered it too—and most guests who come here now think they will be the ones to find a ghost since Yifan left the ending of his long post largely ambiguous. A hashtag on Instagram (#AHauntedinHongdo) even trended for a whole week that delighted some of the ghosts a lot. But he kept mum about the truth of this place. He even shifted from Seoul to Hongdo a couple of months later, leaving Jongdae the responsibility to run their studio and office in Seoul. He still heads to Seoul every now and then for work but returns to Hongdo whenever he has nothing important or urgent to do. He prefers to spend all his time with Junmyeon—in Jongdae’s words, he is “whipped” for the hotel manager.

Yifan still sees the ghosts every now and then. Baekhyun especially enjoys spooking Yifan the most, though now Yifan is better at handling it and doesn’t scream every time Baekhyun tries to scare him. It was a week after their first year anniversary when Yifan had to head for the recent international shoot. He wanted to invite Junmyeon and Jungwoo but he knows this was peak summer vacation time, so that flew out of the window. He just wants to spend all his time, life with Junmyeon. It has been a year, and he has never been in love like he is in love with Junmyeon. But, right now, as Junmyeon buzzes around the kitchen making cups of tea and as Jungwoo jumps at all the gifts he got, Yifan smiles, the velvet jewellery box carefully stashed in his jeans pocket.

 


End file.
